EPHRATA, PA - A 34-year-old man from a Lancaster County borough is facing 100 counts of abuse of a corpse, alongside other charges, after authorities allegedly found the remains of over 100 corpses inside the suspect’s home and storage unit following a string of graverobbing incidents in the area.
On January 6, police arrested Jonathan Christ Gerlach outside of the Mount Moriah Cemetery, which was a historical cemetery that had been the site of numerous graverobbing incidents. According to authorities, when Gerlach was taken into custody, he was allegedly in possession of a crowbar and a burlap bag that reportedly contained various bones and skulls and the mummified remains of two small children.
Police first launched their investigation into the graverobbing incidents this past November, with officials saying as many as 26 mausoleums and burial vaults had been broken into at the cemetery located on the border of Philadelphia and Yeadon.
Investigators landed on Gerlach as their suspect when noticing a vehicle reportedly parked outside of the burial grounds that came back registered to him, alongside evidence of him frequently travelling around Yeadon at the times of the break-ins in prior months.
Gerlach allegedly admitted being responsible for numerous graverobbing instances, detailing how he collected 30 sets of human remains while pointing out the graves he allegedly disturbed.
Upon searching the suspect’s home and a storage unit maintained by him, police say they discovered over 100 human skulls, various bones, and mummified hands and feet.
Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said of the displayed remains allegedly inside the suspect’s home, “They were in various states. Some of them were hanging, as it were. Some of them were pieced together, some were just skulls on a shelf.”
Aside from the skeletal remains allegedly hoarded by Gerlach, investigators say they recovered jewelry from the suspect’s residence, believed to be linked to some of the burgled gravesites. D.A. Rouse admitted that a motive in the case is unclear, telling members of the media, “Given the enormity of what we are looking at and the sheer, utter lack of reasonable explanation, it's difficult to say right now, at this juncture, exactly what took place. We're trying to figure it out.”
Gerlach is currently being held on a $1 million bond on 100 counts of abuse of a corpse as well as counts for receiving stolen property, desecrating a public monument, desecrating a venerated object, desecrating a historic burial place, burglary, trespassing, and theft.
On January 6, police arrested Jonathan Christ Gerlach outside of the Mount Moriah Cemetery, which was a historical cemetery that had been the site of numerous graverobbing incidents. According to authorities, when Gerlach was taken into custody, he was allegedly in possession of a crowbar and a burlap bag that reportedly contained various bones and skulls and the mummified remains of two small children.
Police first launched their investigation into the graverobbing incidents this past November, with officials saying as many as 26 mausoleums and burial vaults had been broken into at the cemetery located on the border of Philadelphia and Yeadon.
Investigators landed on Gerlach as their suspect when noticing a vehicle reportedly parked outside of the burial grounds that came back registered to him, alongside evidence of him frequently travelling around Yeadon at the times of the break-ins in prior months.
Gerlach allegedly admitted being responsible for numerous graverobbing instances, detailing how he collected 30 sets of human remains while pointing out the graves he allegedly disturbed.
Upon searching the suspect’s home and a storage unit maintained by him, police say they discovered over 100 human skulls, various bones, and mummified hands and feet.
Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said of the displayed remains allegedly inside the suspect’s home, “They were in various states. Some of them were hanging, as it were. Some of them were pieced together, some were just skulls on a shelf.”
Aside from the skeletal remains allegedly hoarded by Gerlach, investigators say they recovered jewelry from the suspect’s residence, believed to be linked to some of the burgled gravesites. D.A. Rouse admitted that a motive in the case is unclear, telling members of the media, “Given the enormity of what we are looking at and the sheer, utter lack of reasonable explanation, it's difficult to say right now, at this juncture, exactly what took place. We're trying to figure it out.”
Gerlach is currently being held on a $1 million bond on 100 counts of abuse of a corpse as well as counts for receiving stolen property, desecrating a public monument, desecrating a venerated object, desecrating a historic burial place, burglary, trespassing, and theft.
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